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Music with walls? Music without instruments? is the title of an international conference attended by 100 delegates and speakers from Europe and the US. The conference opens today at the De Montfort University (DMU) in Leicester and runs until Saturday.

"This is a high-level conference where we will be looking at the future of how music is composed and technological and music innovations," said Professor Andrew Hugill. He is one of the conference organisers, along with Professor Leigh Landy who heads the Music, Technology and Innovation Research Group at DMU. The conference will feature musical installations, listening posts, an internet station for interactive music-making, and musical performances at Phoenix Arts, Leicester. There will be four concerts and six installations throughout the conference, including ‘Time Drops’ by Akemi Ishijima - a continuously runni

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Pan-european AV equipment rental company Heuvelman Ltd, has opened a London office. Using the latest equipment, Heuvelman supply a wide range of businesses including hotels, broadcasters, corporate clients, conference and event venues with technical equipment ranging from a single projector to full state-of-the-art installations. Voting systems, teleconferencing and IT rental are also supplied by the company.
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At the ABTT Show earlier this year, Technical Standards for Places of Entertainment - a document addressing the standards facing our industry - was launched.

We all know that local licensing authorities impose technical requirements to ensure the safety of the public, staff and performers in places of entertainment such as theatres, cinemas, discotheques, nightclubs and concert halls. An overhaul of these requirements has been long overdue, largely because the regulations were too specific - with the result that the detailed technical requirements were out of date. Another cause for concern was that the expertise and resources available to individual licensing authorities varied enormously, resulting in inconsistencies between them and varying standards of enforcement.

The new publication incorporates a number of features specifically intended to address these problems. It provides f

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In an agreement signed in Shen Zhen, China, last week, ADSworldwide will have access to the largest domestic loudspeaker market in the world. David Hopkins OBE, chairman and managing director of holding company Audio Design Services Ltd, has been working on this project for a number of years, being a frequent visitor to the Far East. The company has appointed 40 Chinese distributors throughout China and plans for that figure to be 400 within the next four years.

The joint venture sees the creation of Adsworldwide China, an occasion enhanced by the official opening of the company’s new building in Shen Zhen. Amongst the 70 people present there was a large cross-section of representatives from Chinese television and press, as well as the newly selected distributors. After the official signing ceremony, a celebration cocktail party and dinner was held at a nearby hotel in Shen Zhen.

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Barco has announced a number of important appointments and investments to accelerate its growth in a number of target niche market areas. The appointments are aligned behind the five strategic Barco Projection Systems business units - Projection Products, Digital Cinema, Daylight Displays, Control Room Displays and Simulation.

Simon Turtle, an experienced Barco sales manager, has been promoted to business development manager of Barco Projection Products. He is joined by Colin Dunne as customer services manager. Dunne, formerly with Christie UK and Dynamic Logic has more than 25 years' experience in engineering and customer service. Mark Anderson has been appointed to the newly created position of market development manager for Barco's rapidly-expanding Home Theatre product group. Previously with Pioneer and Sony, he brings nearly 20 years of sales expertise to develop the dealer networ

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The United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) has announced that the deadline for submissions to its 2002 Architecture Awards Program will be 2 October 2001. Nominations will be accepted for projects located anywhere in the world, and new construction, renovations, retrofitting or reuse of structures will be considered. Now in its ninth year, the Architecture Awards program was established by the group’s Architecture Commission to bring public and professional recognition to architectural projects chosen for their design excellence and ability to resolve the challenges associated with performance spaces. To be eligible for consideration, project construction must have been completed after January 1st 1992. Among last year’s Award winners were the Severance Hall in Cleveland, Ohio; Theater and Congress Hall in Weimar, Germany; The Lowry Centre in Salford, UK; the

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The Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union (BECTU) has defeated the UK Government at the European Court of Justice over the UK’s implementation of the Working Time Directive. The UK’s Working Time Regulations 1998, which implements the Directive, entitles workers to a minimum of 20 days paid leave each year. But employees are not entitled to the leave until they have completed a qualifying period of 13 continuous weeks with the same employer. This means that many freelance and contract workers who work for less than 13 weeks have been denied a right to take paid leave.

BECTU launched a legal challenge to the UK legislation and on 26 June 2001 the European Court of Justice (ECJ) accepted the opinion of the Advocate General of the ECJ, which stated that national governments may not exclude groups of workers from the rights that the directive gives them.

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Showlight 2001 shall never be forgot - Tony Gottelier walks us through the highlights.

After having spent the weekend in Helensborough with friends, and undertaking several outdoor excursions immersed in Scottish mist, as opposed to Scotch mist which is something else entirely (and of which more later), it was quite a shock to wake up to unexpected and blazing heat for the first day of Showlight 2001. However, this weather was certainly appropriate as, in a very literal sense, the sun seemingly bathed this fourth quadrennial colloquium on entertainment lighting, in a golden glow throughout.

Huge credit has to go to the committee for the success that Showlight was once again. Some of the members of this panel will be mentioned in this article, some will not, if only because their roles were more behind the scenes, as it were, but all deserve fulsome praise for their contribution to a

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PLASA held its most successful AGM to date on Thursday 14 June in the stunning setting of Coombe Abbey, near Coventry. Just under 70 Members attended, including for the first time, a number of Associate Members. One Member even made the trip from Europe.

During the AGM, both PLASA Chairman Mick Hannaford and Treasurer Sammy de Havilland reported a successful year for the Association, covering the wide range of initiatives that had been introduced in the past 12 months.

In his keynote speech, Chairman Mick Hannaford reflected on the changes taking place within the industry and the need for companies to equip themselves to cope with a rapidly changing world. He emphasized the role that PLASA had to play in this, and also stressed the need for more training, an ambition that the Association has given a further boost to with the recent establishment of its training and education steering

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The opening of Bounce at the Roundhouse Theatre, by Nick Grace Management, brings a major international production of a highly-rated dance company’s work to London.

Lighting designer Patrick Woodroffe first visited the BouncE Streetdance Company in Sweden in 2000, with the troupe’s management and producers, to guage the potential for a major international production of the highly-rated company’s work. Woodroffe recalls: "We saw that we could translate what they were doing into something even more exciting. Les Brotherston became involved as designer and came up with this wonderful set design for the Roundhouse, on the understanding that Bounce would first do production rehearsals in Ealing, then a six-week run of the show in Sweden before moving to London."

Brotherston’s set has a wide central stage and two raised ‘satellite’ side stages

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For the first time, a comprehensive study of the effects of theatrical smoke has set absolute limits on the amount of smoke that can be used safely on stages.

The report, jointly commissioned by Actors’ Equity Association and the League of American Theatres and Producers, concluded that Actors are at risk when exposed to "elevated or peak levels of glycol smoke and mineral oil." However, it also noted that if exposure levels are kept below the limits established in the study, actors should "not suffer adverse impacts to their health or their vocal abilities."

Further details of the report will appear in the July issue of Lighting&Sound International, being mailed on July 15. If you would like to receive a copy of the magazine, e-mail news@plasa.org

Further information on the study can be found at

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Manchester’s most comprehensive cultural festival, Keyfest, is being held this summer. Keyfest offers 103 hours of varied events in a range of Manchester venues spanning 17 days. Event Associates created the programme and co-ordinated the production of the whole festival for radio station Key 103.

The co-ordination of the artists, venues and production of Keyfest was managed by the Event Associates team, with director Colin Sinclair overseeing the project. Manchester’s ‘street cred’ as one of the UK’s main cultural cities was once again underlined with the launch of Keyfest on Thursday 21st June at Loaf. Tom Hunter, managing director of Manchester’s radio station Key 103 welcomed a gathering of media and celebrities to the opening party. The festival programme includes a celebrity fashion show, performances from Ocean Colour Scene, Paul Weller and Da

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A panel of crowd safety experts, appointed on March 11 2001 by the ILMC (The International Live Music Conference), has now agreed its agenda. The panel (CSP) has been created in order to increase the focus on health and safety in connection with music festivals and similar larger outdoor concerts. Its main purpose is to assist the government, licensing authorities and legislators with ensuring crowd safety at ongoing or future events.

The panel’s work is highly topical through recent developments in the music and festival culture, and its creation was spurred by a number of accidents and deaths at high profile events including Roskilde Festival 2000 in Denmark and other recent crowd tragedies in Australia and South America. An awareness campaign aimed at educating festival audiences across Europe about the seemingly innocent (but proven dangerous) practice of ‘crowd surfing

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The MTFX Party Cannon is a single-shot cannon which fires both confetti and streamers in to the air together using a built-in compressed air cylinder. Each cannon is pre-loaded with a mixture of both tissue confetti and metallic streamers in a wide variety of colours. The confetti shapes include stars, circles, bubbles and flowers as well as regular Flying Fetti!

The Party Cannon is available in four sizes to suit all venues and operators: the 200mm cannons are particularly suitable for smaller indoor venues as they fire the confetti and streamers to a distance of up to 4 metres. The 300mm cannons are ideal for larger parties and venues as they will fire the contents up to a distance of l0 metres. The 500mm cannons are aimed at very large venues and outdoor parties as they can shoot confetti and streamers to a distance of up to 20 metres. The 800mm cannons need to be reserved for footb

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TeleStage Associates held an official opening of their new office and workshops in Bury St Edmunds on the 13 June. The new premises comprise 350sq.m of office space and 520sq.m of fabrication and warehousing space.

The expansion allows for future growth and provides room for the development of a fully-equipped electrical and electronic workshop which will facilitate the wiring of equipment racks for MCC’s audio-visual equipment racks and custom panels. The workshop will be used for the prototyping and testing of control systems used in stage rigging, AV and show control. A dedicated QA area will ensure that equipment meets all necessary standards before dispatch.

To mark the opening, the company demonstrated a number of items of stage equipment, including two scissor lifts (one using Serapid link chains and the other a single spiral drive from GALA), two of the new super-silent

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This week Show Technology’s managing director Emmanuel Ziino made a major commitment to the rapidly growing area of architectural lighting by appointing Jonathan Ciddor as architectural products manager. Ciddor has been involved in the lighting business for over 30 years, the last 15 specializing in taking entertainment lighting to architectural and theming applications to create interesting lighting solutions. This wealth of knowledge will now be used to develop Show Technology’s position as one of the leaders in innovative architectural lighting in Australia.

Jonathan’s own experience on large scale architectural and theming projects is vast and he has worked on a wide range of projects. He is currently working on the permanent location of the Olympic Cauldron at Homebush Bay involving over 20 Clay Paky Goldenscans. The installation of this project is by Beyond Audi

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The details have been confirmed of the third Hayden Laboratories Annual Cricket Cup Challenge. The date for this enjoyable and competitive event is Thursday 23rd August. The Audio and Lighting industry are invited to pull on their cricketing whites and challenge the current champions - Clarion Events Ltd (boo hiss) - in a triangular competition which culminates with a prize-giving and BBQ in the evening.

And if you don’t play, you are very welcome to come and enjoy the atmosphere and cheer on your industry colleagues as they demonstrate their complete lack of sporting prowess in the idyllic setting of Littlewick Green Cricket Club, Berkshire. This year’s three teams will consist of Clarion Events captained by James Brooks-Ward, the PLASA Lighting side captained by Paul De Ville of Lightfactor Sales, and the PLASA Audio side captained by Simon Curtis of Hayden Laboratories.<

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Having recently purchased the licensed explosives site they have been leasing for the past four years, Skyhigh Stage FX is now setting about doubling its production capacity. "Sales are going through the roof," Skyhigh’s product manager Tom Owen explained. "Our success is down to our new range of PDS firing systems; we have discovered there is a real need for a firing system that is safer than has been previously available on the market. This in turn is leading to greater demand for our pyro products."

The Skyhigh site was originally a World War II gun site. There are five old gun emplacements each surrounded by its own blast walls. Seventy five metres away from the emplacements is the main magazine where the Ack Ack shells were stored. Each emplacement has its own sub magazine, which supplied each individual gun. The arrangement is ideal for Skyhigh’s p

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A documentary team are planning to do a report on what they believe is Europe’s oldest working lightbulb. The star subject has reportedly been working perfectly well in the garage of a family based in Cetinje, Yugoslavia, since it was first installed in 1910.

However, the Yugoslavian bulb has some way to go before it catches up with a feisty old lightbulb still serving duty in a fire station in the US city of Livermore. The 4W bulb recently celebrated its centenary.

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During our time at the recent TiLE show at the Business Design Centre in Islington, we took time out to call in on Lighting Technology’s newly established office on the second levelof the Design Centre.

Dave Cartwright and Richard Reed, both on temporary secondment from the Group’s Park Royal HQ, were more than happy to show us round. The new base, which features both a sales office and showroom area, is championing the promotion of Lighting Technology Projects’ specialist architectural lighting products portfolio, which incorporates product lines from manufacturers around the world, including Color Kinetics, ETC Irideon, TIR LightPipe, Astralux, Derksen and Phoenix - as well as numerous other architectural lighting and control products. Graham White, recently recruited from Absolute Action, heads up the new office with Clive Tallent and Sarah Davis joining him from P

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The UK’s first ever grouping of crowd management companies, the UK Crowd Management Association (UKCMA), has marked its first four months with the announcement of official recognition from two major bodies. The UKCMA was launched in March at the International Live Music Conference in London. Its principle aims are to raise standards within the entertainment event industry and promote awareness of crowd safety issues among legislative bodies in the UK, as well as to foster co-ordination of training and operational standards. The UKCMA, representing the major players in crowd management, aims to achieve this through a continuing educational and networking programme and open forums, targeting all decision makers involved within the crowd management sphere. In the short space of four months, the association has gained recognition from such organisations as the British Standards Institu

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PLASA has worked in co-operation with some of London’s leading entertainment venues to offer an exclusive insight into the workings of some of the city’s most famous venues; this exclusive backstage tour immediately follows the close of the PLASA Show in London this September. Theatrical London delegates will visit the world-renowned Royal Albert Hall for a night at the Proms; the Apollo Victoria Theatre to see the upgraded Starlight Express; Tussaud’s Group Studios for an exclusive technical tour, and the Donmar Warehouse for a ‘Divas at the Donmar’ performance. To top it off, you can step back in time at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre . . .

Wednesday 12th September: The experience begins with A night at The Proms, The Royal Albert Hall, featuring Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring. Pre-show drinks will be served in the foyer. Performance starts at 7.30pm.

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Arbiter and JBL recently took residence at the Hammersmith Apollo, to host the first UK demo of the Vertec Line Array system. The day was designed to give clients an opportunity to view the product up close and allow them some hands-on time with the system.

One of the issues JBL was most keen to emphasize was that of weight, or rather lack of it, for each Vertec VT4889 enclosure weighs only 69kg, including rigging hardware. Each enclosure includes two lightweight 15" low frequency loudspeakers, four powerful 2250H 8" midrange frequency loudspeakers, coupled to RBIs (Radiation Boundary Integrators), and three compact 2435 high frequency drivers fitted to WaveFormers.

The system is already establishing a strong following, both in the US and Europe, where some of the key touring supply companies have systems out with a number of headlining bands.

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A joint project involving manufacturers Allen& Heath and Audace has provided a UK conference and exhibition venue with a unique paging system.

Bryan Waters, MD and founder of Audace, explained that the HIC system required a larger number of output zones than A&H’s DR128 digital matrix could provide. "The first challenge was the need for a system of 16 zones. We wanted to provide the Centre with a single control system that would work with two of the Allen & Heath units." Waters, who professes a keen enthusiasm for the Cornish pro audio manufacturer’s products, set up Audace specifically to provide one-off solutions and off-the-shelf support products for the blossoming digital market. "When the DR128 was launched, there was nothing like it on the market for anything like the price - and there still isn’t," he enthused. "However, the software su

  1. PLASA 2001 Hotline Goes Live!
  2. Sennheiser Searches for Musical Talent
  3. PLASA 2001 Show Seminars
  4. Putting the Wow! Into Your Production
  5. ABTT Council Appointments
  6. Standards: We Need Your Input
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